


Aquarius

by amoleofmonsters



Series: Sheith Month 2018 Fics [20]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Swimming, M/M, Sheith Month 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 02:10:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15571410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoleofmonsters/pseuds/amoleofmonsters
Summary: Keith transfers schools and joins the swim team. Developing a crush on the super cute Vice Captain wasn't part of the plan.--For Sheith Month 2018. Day 27: Sports





	Aquarius

**Author's Note:**

> God, this got entirely out of hand. I ended up cutting a lot of scenes because it was already twice the length of most of the other fics I've written for Sheith Month. Maybe one day I'll come back to this AU, but I doubt it. My original plan was to write a World Cup AU, but I decided to bench that at the last minute so I could turn it into a full length story. Whether or not I ever get that AU together to post it is another matter entirely. Anyway, here's my attempt at a college swim team AU as someone who stopped swimming in high school.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr at sharkrinsoup.tumblr.com!

Keith stands at the side of the pool among a group of freshmen, all of them wide-eyed and shaking. He watches as two figures appear from the locker room. Keith immediately recognizes the floppy hair of Adam, the team’s captain. When his eyes fall upon the man next to him, his breath catches. He’s handsome in a way that warms Keith’s entire frame. His black hair is an undercut with long, white bangs spilling over onto his forehead and he has the kindest eyes Keith has ever seen. Over his swimsuit, he’s pulled on a soft-looking zip-up hoodie, left open so that Keith can see his muscular frame. He’d never seen this man before in his life, but he desperately wants to talk to him. 

Keith realizes he’s staring when Adam clears his throat and shouts, “Hey, freshmeat! Welcome to the Garrison University Men’s Swim Team! Congrats on making it through tryouts, but don’t think you can rest easy because our first meet is only two weeks from now. I’d like to introduce you to your vice captain, Shiro!” He drops his arm around the other man’s shoulder and grins. “You were supposed to meet him during tryouts, but he was out of the state. But don’t you worry, he’s here now and he’ll push you just as hard as I have.”

“Hi, everyone,” says Shiro and his voice sends a thrill down Keith’s spine. “Just like Adam said, I’m Shiro and your vice captain. We’re expecting you all to put in a hundred and twenty percent if we expect to make it to nationals. I’m excited to see what you all can do!”

Adam walks over to a whiteboard and starts writing a work out. “Now, tomorrow you’ll all be joining the rest of the team for our first full practice, but right now we’re going have you do some swimming for us. Once you’re done with this, you’re free to go home. Don’t forget, there’s practice tomorrow.” 

As Adam writes the instructions, there are some gasps and groans. Keith even hears someone say, “Is he serious? This is insane!” Keith steals himself, ready for anything.

Adam turns around and says, “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Keith is one of the first done with the work out, but he feels his muscles burning as he climbs out of the pool. He drags his swim cap off of his head and tries to even his breathing as his body threatens to collapse. As he stumbles towards the locker room, he hears, “Hey, what’s your name?” 

Keith turns to look at Shiro who’s leaning against the bleachers. “Me?”

“Yeah. Your swimming is some of the best I’ve ever seen from a freshman.” 

Keith chuckles. “That’s because I’m not a freshman. I’m a sophomore. I just transferred. My name’s Keith.” 

Shiro hums. “I’m going to keep my eye on you, Keith. I think you’ll take this team far.” 

Keith blushes. “That’s the idea.” He heads for the locker room, his heart beating a mile a minute. 

Much to Keith’s relief, the practices that follow are a lot easier. He’s still pushed to his limits and comes home ready to curl up in bed, but it’s nothing compared to the crushing exhaustion he’d felt the first day. As Thursday practice winds down, Shiro jumps up on top of the bleachers and shouts, “Hey everyone! Party at my place tomorrow night with the women’s team! Newbies, no need to bring any alcohol! The rest of you guys, let’s show our new teammates that we’re not all work and no play!” There is a cacophony of cheers from the team and Keith resolutely decides that he’s going to finish that one Netflix series he’s been putting off that Friday. 

As he climbs out of the pool and walks to the locker room, Shiro says, “Hey, Keith, see you Friday night, yeah?” 

Keith’s mouth feels dry. “Yeah.” Guess the Netflix will have to wait.

Friday night rolls around faster than Keith had expected and he finds himself swiping into the senior dorm building. Two freshmen that Keith recognizes from practice swipe in behind him. As Keith calls for the elevator, he can hear them chatting animatedly. “I’m so excited to see the senior dorms! I heard there are at least two floors! And like, a massive kitchen! With an amazing view of the campus!” says one of them. “Man, I can’t wait until we’re seniors.” 

Keith feels profoundly annoyed by the resulting conversation, but the elevator arrives and he drops himself as far in the back as he can. The two boys are too busy practically squealing to give Keith any mind. They arrive at the top floor and Keith follows them out at a distance. 

A junior Keith recognizes is stationed in front of the door. Keith tries to recall his name. It is something like Mark? Matt? Either way, he opens the door for them. “Hey, welcome to the party! Drinks are on the kitchen counter.” Keith practically pushes the two other boys out of the way as he dives towards the drinks. If he’s going to make it through the evening, he needs liquid courage. But it doesn’t seem to matter because the party quickly overwhelms him anyway. He taps the shoulder of an older member of the team and says, “Hey, do you know where the bathroom is?” 

“Upstairs!” shouts the guy, pointing in the direction of the stairs. Keith turns around and heads towards them. As he’s halfway up the stairs, he hears Adam’s voice, angry, and he ducks down. 

“Shiro, why are you acting like this?” 

“I’m not acting like anything! You can’t talk me out of this, you know. We’ve already had this fight and you know how that ended.”

“I’m not telling you not to go anymore, but how the fuck am I supposed to find your replacement? No one is qualified to be the vice captain other than you!” 

“There are plenty of people! Look, I shouldn’t have taken the position in the first place and that’s my fault, but I already missed the entire first week. If we keep going like this, the team is not going to have a vice captain at all.” 

“Shiro, you’re better than all of those guys and besides, none of this is healthy. I care about you, Shiro.” 

“Adam.” Shiro’s voice is harsh, a tone Keith has never heard from him before.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s not my place to say that. I just...” 

“Save it. You’ve already said enough.” 

“Me reminding you that I love you isn’t going to work, then?”

“No.” Suddenly, Keith hears shoes on the top of the stairs and tries to run before he’s caught, but Shiro’s voice calls out, “Oh, hey, Keith! Didn’t see you there! Glad you could make it!” 

Keith spins around to stare at Shiro. “Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

“I’m glad you could make it! I heard you were an aerospace engineering major?” 

“Uh, yeah. I’m not gonna be swimming forever, you know?” 

“You definitely could if you wanted to, but I get the reservations. I’m aerospace, too.” 

Keith raises his eyebrow. “Really?” 

“Yeah. I love it, actually. More than swimming, if you could believe it.” 

Keith laughs, but he vaguely thinks it’s because of the alcohol. “I honestly can’t, no.” 

“I’m working for NASA next year, actually. Just got the offer a few days ago. I’m really excited.” 

“Wow, that’s incredible. I... I have a lot of questions, actually.” 

“I’ll be happy to answer them! Come on, we can go to my room where it’s quieter.” Keith nods and follows Shiro up the remainder of the stairs. Adam stares at them as they walk past, but turns around and heads down to the first floor instead of following. Shiro leads Keith down the hall past two other bedrooms to push open a door. “This is me. Come on in and feel free to sit wherever.” 

Shiro’s room is huge, about the size of Keith’s double but there’s only him living in it. Everything looks to be neatly organized, not a single item out of place. The posters on his wall range from images of space to different famous swimmers. Keith takes Shiro’s desk chair while Shiro sits down on his bed. “So, what do you wanna know?” 

“Everything!” says Keith, and then blushes. “I guess, can you tell me about the process?” 

Shiro grins. “It was a lot. I started my application at the end of last semester and they called me for my first interview in July. The week of tryouts, I was actually out in Arizona for an onsite interview. It was really awesome!” 

“That’s amazing. Yeah, I’m hoping to work for NASA. That, or military stuff, but I honestly have no idea.”

“I’m sure you can do anything that you want to do. Why not swimming, though? You’re definitely the best out of the freshman and sophomores. By the time you hit senior year, I’m sure you could go pro.” 

Keith sighs. “Thanks, that means a lot. But while I really love swimming, I think I would go insane if that was the only thing I was doing everyday. What about you? Why aren’t you going pro?” 

Shiro smiles sadly. “It was always the main plan, but a year ago I injured my arm. If I pushed myself through it, if I worked hard enough, I could do it, but the doctor said I should strongly reconsider my career path. Honestly, I hate to say it, but all I felt was relief. I think, if anything, it was a sign. Adam didn’t take kindly to it because going pro was sort of our joint goal.” 

“You guys are together, huh?” 

Shiro shook his head. “We broke up the day I applied for the NASA position.” 

“Why?” 

“He had always felt like I was just giving up, but he silently went along with it. But then, I told him I was applying for a job half way across the country and he went nuclear, accused me of not caring about him or the relationship. In the end, we had to end it because my job hunt was stressing him out to much.” 

“That’s not fair. It’s your life. I could never say that to someone.” 

Shiro shook his head. “I get it. We came here together after high school because we both wanted to go pro. I get why it broke our relationship, but I had to do what was right for me. Anyway, enough of my life story. Why did you transfer?” 

Keith still has so many questions, but he decides he’s not going to push. “Honestly? Aerospace. My old Uni had a really great swim team, but no aerospace program. I’d gotten in on a sports scholarship, but I realized after two months that I couldn’t do it for the rest of my life. Being a college athlete for the next three years is enough for me.” 

“Yeah, I can respect that.” The two of them fell into an easy conversation about their major, Shiro passing on as much advice as he could about the department. Eventually, they were cracking jokes like they’d known each other for years. Keith never thought that he’d get to know what Shiro’s favorite moon was – Kerberos, for the record – but the night is full of surprises.

“Hey, wanna see something kind of dorky?” asks Shiro. 

“We’ve been talking about rocket ships for the last hour. How much dorkier could it be?” 

“Lie down on my bed.” Shiro stands up and walks over to the light switch. Keith looks at him nervously, but drops himself onto the mattress and leans back. The second he’s in position, Shiro clicks off the light and Keith is immediately surrounded by hundreds of glowing stars arranged in familiar constellations. He feels Shiro crawl onto the bed next to him. 

“This is amazing. It must have taken ages.” 

“Oh, it did. I barely slept that night, but it was definitely worth it.” They lie there in silence for a moment, just looking up at the stars when Shiro says, “Hey, Keith, before I chicken out... can I kiss you?” 

Keith jerks to stare at Shiro, or at least where he thinks Shiro is. “Huh?” he says like the genius that he is. 

“I’m sorry, that was out of line. I shouldn’t have asked.” 

“No! No! You’re fine you’re okay!” Keith reaches for Shiro’s face and cups his cheeks, feeling the outline of his lips with his thumb. He leans in and presses a quick, fumbling kiss to Shiro’s mouth before pulling away. 

Shiro laughs. “You’re really cute, you know that?” Keith feels himself turn bright red as he feels Shiro pull him in for another kiss. 

They lie there under the canopy of the fake stars for the rest of the night, basking in each other’s warmth.


End file.
